Warsaw Philharmonic – National Orchestra of Poland
The history of the Warsaw Philharmonic goes back to 5 November 1901 when the orchestra gave its inaugural concert in the newly-commissioned hall in Moniuszko street. On that occasion the Warsaw Philharmonic was conducted by Emil Młynarski and featured Ignacy Jan Paderewski as soloist. The programme included works by Chopin, Moniuszko, Paderewski, Noskowski, Stojowski and Żeleński.
Within a relatively short time, the Warsaw Philharmonic became the most important institution of promoting musical culture in Poland. It also played an active role in the European music circuit. Its reputation was enhanced by guest performances of the world’s most renowned musicians of the early 20th century and the inter-war
period, including the pianists Sergey Rachmaninov, Claudio Arrau, Vladimir Horowitz, Wilhelm Kempf and Artur Rubinstein, the violinists Bronisław Huberman and Pablo Sarasate, and the conductors Otto Klemperer and Artur Rodziński. The Warsaw Philharmonic also played host to such famous composers as Karol Szymanowski, Arthur Honegger, Sergey Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky and Edvard Grieg.
Until World War Two, the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall served as the venue for three Chopin International Piano Competitions (1927, 1932, 1937), the 1st Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition (1935) and the 1st Festival of Polish Art.
Soon after the outbreak of the Second World War, the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall was bombed and towards the end of the hostilities it was reduced to rubble. From among 71 orchestra members as many as 39 lost their lives.
Among the conductors who led the Warsaw Philharmonic in the initial post-war years were Olgierd Straszyński and Andrzej Panufnik. In January 1950 the post of Director and Principal Conductor was taken by Witold Rowicki, who, in highly difficult conditions (the orchestra did not have its own home), reorganised the ensemble and played
a key role in raising its artistic standard.
On 21 February 1955 the orches-tra gave its first concert in the new venue, which housed the main Concert Hall seating 1000 and the Chamber Hall with an auditorium for 433 people.
In 1955–58 the Warsaw Philharmonic – the National Orchestra of Poland was directed by Bohdan Wodiczko, an outstanding musician and promoter of contemporary music. His assistants included Arnold Rezler and Stanisław Skrowaczewski. The late 1950s was a very propitious period in the history of the orchestra. It was considerably expanded. Numerous 20th-century compositions were premiered to great acclaim.
After Wodiczko, Witold Rowicki resumed work with the orchestra, and remained its Artistic Director until the end of the 1976/77 season. The permanent conductors at the time included Stanisław Wisłocki and Andrzej Markowski (the former served also as Deputy Artistic Director in 1972–74). In July 1977 the post of the Managing and Artistic Director was taken over by Kazimierz Kord. He expanded the orchestra’s repertoire by introducing an impressive selection of oratorios, cantatas and the operas in concert performance. In 1979–90 Tadeusz Strugała held the post of Principal Conductor.
On 1 January 2002, the post of Managing and Artistic Director was assumed by Antoni Wit.
The Warsaw Philharmonic has made over 100 tours in the five continents. It has participated in prestigious international festivals, in-cluding those in Athens, Bergen, Berlin, Bordeaux, Brussels, Florence, Lucerne, Montreux, Moscow, Prague and Vienna. It regularly takes part in the Chopin International Piano Competitions and the ‘Warsaw Autumn’ Contemporary Music Festivals. The Warsaw Philharmonic has an extensive catalogue of recordings for Polish Radio and tv, various Polish and foreign labels, as well as for film. Many of them have won prestigious awards including the ‘Fryderyk 2002’ Award for the best interpretations of Polish music (works by Lutosławski, Meyer and Penderecki). In 2004 the recording of Penderecki’s St Luke Passion by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus under Antoni Wit (made two years earlier for naxos) received the ‘Classical Internet Award’ and a Grammy nomination. The orchestra’s other major recent recordings include Chopin’s complete works for piano and orchestra for Decca (2003, with Kun Woo Paik) and the world premiere recording of Wojciech Kilar’s
September Symphony for cd Accord (2003).
The Warsaw Philharmonic has played host to Poland’s leading musicians and the finest from abroad including Hermann Abendroth, Martha Argerich, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Kathleen Battle, Teresa Berganza, Gary Bertini, Herbert Blomstedt, Aram Khachaturian, Charles Dutoit, Philippe Entremont, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Philippe Herreweghe, Nigel Kennedy, Mischa Maisky, Igor Markevitch, Kurt Masur, Yehudi Menuhin, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Midori, Anne-Sophie Mutter, David Oistrakh, Murray Perahia, Maurizio Pollini, Svyatoslav Richter, Helmuth Rilling, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Artur Rubinstein, Isaac Stern, Leopold Stokowski, Igor Stravinsky and Henryk Szeryng.